2,614 related texts · 5 related myths · Page 1 of 55
Two words haunted ancient Israel: shedim (demons) and se'irim. The Israelites were forbidden from sacrificing to either. They sacrificed anyway. The se'irim were the hairy ones, sa...
In what lies in the other ark it is written (Exodus 20) "I am the L–rd your G–d," and of Joseph it is written (Genesis 50:19) "Am I in the place of G–d?" In what lies in this ark i...
Shir HaShirim Rabbah turns to Did Noah Offer Burnt Offerings or Peace Offerings. This verse sparks a debate, recorded in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, about the nature of sacrifices offere...
Rabbi Berekhya said: The Holy one blessed be He recorded the redemption of Israel in the Torah, as it is written: “If a stranger who is a resident among you shall prosper…” (Leviti...
“In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Aḥashverosh, he had cast a pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the tw...
“The king said to Haman: Hurry, take the garments and the horse; as you have said, do so to Mordekhai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Do not omit anything that you spoke of. H...
Seven days of atonement, and then the altar was something else entirely, not a piece of furniture, not a table of stone, but kodesh kodashim, the altar of the Holy of Holies. Targu...
(Lev. 7:11:) “This is the law of the sacrifice for peace offerings.” You find that all of the [other] sacrifices that they would bring, they would bring for sins. In the case of th...
The altar is ready, the fire is burning, and the priests are preparing the offering. Jubilees says: "offer them all together on the altar of burnt-offering; it is a sweet savour be...
It’s a fascinating glimpse into ancient ritual and devotion. some of the details, specifically as recorded in Bamidbar Rabbah 13, a section of the great collection of Midrashic (ra...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael raises a question about who is obligated to honor parents. The commandment says "Honor your father and your mother," but a related verse in (Leviticus...
Three figures pray and God delights in it: Moses, David, and the Messiah. This is the claim Aggadat Bereshit makes from (Proverbs 15:8), "the prayer of the upright is His delight."...
What happens when only part of the offering is present? Is it still valid? Our little puzzle comes from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deutero...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, dives into just that when discussing the burnt offering, the olah. So, everything goes up. Wel...
The Torah portion of Vayikra (Leviticus) dives deep into the intricate world of offerings, and Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Leviticus, illuminates on...
The Small Letters and their Purposes The ALEPH in ויקרא And He called (Leviticus 1:1) is small, to teach that the Holy Blessed One is only revealed to the nations of the earth thro...
There is a right way to speak of offerings, and the wrong way offends the Holy One. Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 6:1 preserves a sharp teaching from R. Shimon ben Yochai, the s...
(Lev. 7:11:) “This is the law of the sacrifice for peace offerings.” This text is related (to Prov. 3:17), “The ways [of wisdom] are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are pea...
(Lev. 7:11:) “This is the law of the sacrifice for peace offerings." When they offered the sacrifice of the peace offerings, the Holy One, blessed be He, would lift up His face to ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Isaac Willingly Helped Build the Altar for His Own Sacrifice. The biblical text gives us glimpses, but the aggadah, the rabbinic tradition of storytell...
The verse records a startling act (Exodus 18:12): "Yithro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and peace-offerings for sacrifice to God." The Mekhilta says that Scripture d...
Leviticus 3 describes the peace offering, the only sacrifice where the person bringing it actually got to eat part of the meat. The Targum Jonathan adds a small but theologically l...
Sometimes, it's in those tiny details that we find the biggest insights into the heart of the matter. Take the ritual of the sota, the woman suspected of adultery, described in Num...
The core debate boils down to this: Did the descendants of Noah, meaning all humanity before the giving of the Torah at Sinai, offer only burnt offerings, or did they also offer pe...
(Lev. 1:7:) “And the sons of Aaron the Priest shall put fire upon the altar, and they shall lay wood in order upon the fire.” (Tamid 2:3:) All of the trees are proper for [altar] f...
(Ibid. 7) "You shall not take the name of the L–rd your G–d in vain": A vain oath, too, was included in (Leviticus 19:12) "You shall not swear falsely in My name," and Scripture re...
There is nothing more beloved than the Mincha prayer. The afternoon offering, the one between the morning and the evening, is the prayer that comes at the moment when the day is st...
This comes to us from Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, drawing from various Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) sources. Remember the story? Elijah, challenging the priests...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar explores the mystical underpinnings of the Torah, revealing hidden layers of meaning within its words. In Tikkunei Zohar 125, it speaks of fou...
The Torah commands regarding the Passover sacrifice that "there shall not remain the fat of My festival offering until morning." The Mekhilta takes this verse and extracts from it ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to How Sacrificial Blood Was Applied at the Altar. The passage Specifically, it's trying to answer the question: what are the rules? The passage starts with a ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Priestly Gifts from Offerings and Ordinary Animals. Here’s how it works: we start with the idea that even individual peace offerings might be subject to pri...
When the entire community of Israel sinned by accident, who took responsibility? The Hebrew Bible says "the elders of the congregation" laid their hands on the bull (Leviticus 4:15...
Leviticus 7 compiles the laws of trespass offerings, thanksgiving offerings, and the priestly portions. The Targum Jonathan repeats a stunning claim from the previous chapter, fram...
It comes from Numbers, Chapter 5, verse 26. The verse reads: "The priest shall take a handful from the meal offering, its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and then he ...
A passage from Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Leviticus, that explores just that. It revolves around the verse: "Command Aaron and his sons...
It wasn't just about hearing the thunder and seeing the lightning. It was about a tangible, visceral connection – a bond sealed in blood. See, back then, there was no Temple, no es...
How Confession Turns Harsh Judgment Into Mercy is the question behind this passage from Likutey Moharan (Rabbi Nachman). Through the Torah of lovingkindness, which the Talmud defin...
There exists a soul in every generation through whom Torah insights are revealed to the world. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov describes this soul as one burdened with suffering: "Bread w...
(Exodus 22:18) "Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death": What is the intent of this? It is written (Leviticus 20:15) "And a man who cohabits with a beast shall be put to d...
. Another reading: “Comfort, oh comfort My people” (Isaiah 40:1) Said the Holy Blessed One: Who needs to be comforted? For one whose wife died, not the husband? Thus was Zion analo...
The children of Israel left Egypt in the Hebrew month of Nisan, in springtime, and immediately the sukkot, the booths of the wilderness, went up. They lived in these booths for for...
“And did not remember His footstool [hadom raglav],” Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He does not remember that blood [hadam] that was between the legs of the...
Rabbi Azarya began: “Do not see wine in its redness, for one who sets his eye on the cup will walk the straight path” (Proverbs 23:31). Rabbi Azarya said: “Do not see wine in its r...
Forget the sterile descriptions in history books. Ben Sira, in chapter 50 of his wisdom book, gives us a series of breathtaking images to help us do just that. He paints pictures w...
It's a city that resonates through millennia, a place where, according to legend, the very ground remembers the most important moments in our shared past. Think about Abraham, read...
Issi ben Akiva proposed a striking interpretation of the altar's construction: it was a copper altar filled with earth. This sounds like a simple engineering detail, but the Mekhil...
It involves a sotah (סוטה), a woman suspected of adultery. The Torah details a procedure involving a priest, a special concoction, and a whole lot of public humiliation. Now, the p...
